In the days to come the British and American peoples will for their own safety, and for the good of all, walk together side by side in majesty, in justice, and in peace.”
-Winston Churchill addressing a joint session of the US Congress, 26 December 1941.

The year is 1942, the world is at war and the United Kingdom has limited resources to combat the enemy, let alone launch an invasion of the European mainland. What is available is becoming stretched far too thinly, including the nation’s railways. Due to years of consistent bombing, the railways were struggling to cope with the increased traffic and locomotives and rolling stock were in short supply. Thankfully our American Allies stepped up, aiding us in our hour of need.

Designed by Major J. W. Marsh from the Railway Branch of the Corps of Engineers, the S160 had to fit the more restrictive loading gauge of the UK. They had to be easy to build, quick to repair and reliable. Constructed in the United States in multiple batches from 1942 to 1945, they were split between the ALCO, Baldwin, and Lima Locomotive Works. Collectively, almost 800 locomotives were shipped to the UK. Landing mainly in Newport, South Wales, as well as Birkenhead, Glasgow and London, the locomotives passed through major workshops before being sent on to the respective railway company. The first 396 were assigned to the 4 railway regions of the era and under the guise of them being run in, 174 were issued to the Great Western Railway, 168 to the London & North Eastern Railway, 50 to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, and a much more modest 6 to the Southern Railway. The final 400 UK-issued locos were also stored in South Wales, where they were kept as part of the D-Day preparations. With the invasion on the horizon, June 1944 saw the stored engines sent for servicing and processing, all leaving by early September 1944.

Until the days of preservation, the only S160 in the UK post-war was WD 93257 (later No.700) Major General Carl R Gray Jr, used to train military personnel in driving and caring for steam locos at the Longmoor Military Railway. Following WW2 the S160s were scattered across the globe, from China to Hungary. Whilst in the ownership of a plethora of different railways they were often refitted to accommodate their owners’ needs. As time went on the original shape and details of many of the locos would evolve, which was in part, due to the interchangeable nature of their original design.

Eight locos have been repatriated to the UK in preservation and all of them are different from their counterparts, some more subtly than others. Despite all having key visual differences, several of the preserved versions have been returned to running order, with no less than three examples currently in operation with a number of others under restoration.

Each model is fitted with two factory-fitted speakers (one in the loco and another in the tender), dual LED firebox glow with dynamic fire draw effect, a large motor with twin flywheels, pickups on driving wheels and tender and a 21-pin DCC decoder socket mounted in the tender.

The tooling suite covers a large range of variations including different lamp irons, smokebox doors, air pumps, left and right hand drive, pole and screw reverser with straight or stepped running boards, different tenders and different pipework configurations. Details of the specific tooling for each model, along with a brief history of each locomotive we are producing is available in each product description.

Part of the USATC S160 collection